South Korea in 1993

A republic of northeastern Asia on the southern half of the peninsula of Korea, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) borders the Sea of Japan, the Korea Strait, the Yellow Sea, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at roughly the 38th parallel. Area: 99,274 sq km (38,330 sq mi). Pop. (1993 est.): 44,042,000. Cap.: Seoul. Monetary unit: won, with (Oct. 4, 1993) a free rate of 814.40 won to U.S. $1 (1,234 won = £ 1 sterling). Presidents in 1993, Roh Tae Woo and, from February 25, Kim Young Sam; prime ministers, Hyun Soong Jong, Hwang In Sung, and, from December 16, Lee Hoi Chang.

Kim Young Sam, the first South Korean president in more than 30 years with no ties to the military, wasted little time carrying out his campaign pledge to battle corruption. Only weeks after being sworn in on Feb. 25, 1993, Kim launched one of the most comprehensive anticorruption campaigns in the nation’s history. Before the year was out, he had purged thousands of bureaucrats, military leaders, and businessmen; released thousands of political prisoners; launched wide-ranging investigations into administrative abuses; and initiated sweeping financial reforms. In the process he earned record-high public-approval ratings.

A longtime opposition leader before his Reunification Democratic Party and Kim Jong Pil’s New Democratic Republican Party merged with the ruling Democratic Justice Party in 1990 to form the Democratic Liberal Party, Kim began his quest for a "clean and just society" by revealing his own net worth--$2.1 million--and pledging never to accept political donations during his five-year term. He then called on all 161 ruling party lawmakers to disclose their personal assets. The subsequent revelations sparked such public outrage that several high-ranking legislators, including the speaker of the National Assembly, Park Jyun Kyu, were forced to resign. In May the National Assembly passed a law requiring all of its members, some 7,000 government officials, and senior military officers to reveal their assets.

Kim’s Cabinet was a mix of political veterans and newcomers. He appointed the party’s chief policy maker, former general Hwang In Sung, prime minister. Hwang was given the task of reviving the country’s sagging economy. Another key appointment was the naming of Lee Hoi Chang, a Supreme Court judge, to head the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), which was to spearhead the president’s anticorruption drive. Kim set a precedent by appointing Kim Deok, an academic, head of the powerful Agency for National Security Planning, which in the past had been accused of persecuting political dissidents.

The president’s vigorous ethics campaign so upset conservatives within the ruling party that they hit back. On March 8 Kim was forced to fire three newly appointed ministers after reports surfaced of past misdeeds. Justice Minister Park Hee Tae was said to have used unfair means to get his daughter into a university; Health Minister Park Yang Shil was accused of real-estate speculation; and Construction Minister Huh Jae Hyung was accused of "irregularities." In addition, Seoul Mayor Kim Sang Chul was fired for involvement in illegal land development. The embarrassing revelations, however, did nothing to slow down the president’s efforts.

The military was one of Kim’s main targets. During his first month in office he replaced the army chief of staff and the head of military intelligence. Next came investigations into the military’s procurement program and into charges of payoffs for military promotions. In time, 13 officers, including five air force generals, the former air force chief of staff, and seven other officers, were arrested on charges of receiving payoffs for promotions. The Defense Ministry later released the 13 from jail, but it announced that all would be discharged from active service. In a separate probe, the BAI investigated the procurement of weapons systems. Former air force chief of staff Gen. Chung Yong Ho charged that the government of former president Roh Tae Woo may have accepted bribes to switch a $5.2 billion contract for fighter planes from McDonnell Douglas Corp. to General Dynamics. The National Assembly investigated the matter in September, but no formal charges were made.

The BAI soon extended its investigation to all military procurement programs, including the purchase of submarines, tanks, and other equipment. In October two former navy chiefs, Kim Chul Woo and Kim Chong Ho, were sentenced to six years in jail for accepting bribes for defense contracts and for selling promotions. Other casualties of the anticorruption campaign included Chief Justice Kim Duck Joo and Kim Hyo Eun, the national police chief; both resigned in September after disclosing their assets.

Kim further tightened his hold on the military by removing top generals with ties to former military regimes. In April he dismissed two three-star generals who had headed army units linked to the 1979 coup that brought Chun Doo Hwan to power. In May he fired Gen. Lee Pil Sup, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and two other senior generals for their involvement in the 1979 coup.

The administration’s other major concern was the economy. The growth rate had slipped to 4.7% in 1992, the lowest in a decade. In May the government released its five-year economic-reform plan. Its goal was to cut government red tape and replace most government controls with free-market mechanisms by 1997. The program, among other things, called for deregulation of interest rates and the phasing out of subsidized government loans to industry by private banks.

Kim dropped his biggest financial bombshell on August 12 when he announced on national television that anonymous or false-name financial transactions would become illegal. The use of false-name accounts allowed business conglomerates to funnel millions of dollars into the ruling party coffers. It also contributed to corruption by allowing officials to speculate in the stock and real-estate markets. It was, moreover, a handy way to avoid income taxes. The reform was considered a keystone in Kim’s anticorruption campaign.

On December 9 Kim announced that he had agreed to allow foreign rice imports as part of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Other countries had also made concessions in order to improve the world’s economy by removing or lowering international trade barriers. The move led to Prime Minister Hwang’s resignation and a major Cabinet reshuffle. Joseph L. Nagy

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